Comments on: Staying slim is good for the environment

By: Edouard

Edouard — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:27:30 +0000

Many thanks Daryl for your comment, it is too rare a pleasure not to be noticed.

These photos are amazing and definitively show that we as Westerners eat waaay too much to keep fit and slim.

By: Verda Vivo

Verda Vivo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:15:50 +0000

It will be interesting to see reactions to this research. There are so many folks who do not see the connection between what they’re putting in their mouths and their weight. With U.S. courts recognizing obesity as a disability under ADA as well as Social Security, it’s easier to avoid responsibility for one’s own food eating habits. I agree with Kiashu, if we took a picture of the food we eat in a week, we’d be surprised – including me. ~ Daryl

By: Edouard

Edouard — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:12:24 +0000

ah crap, sorry Kiashu. Getting up, checking the news and the comment you posted last night and missing the link…

edit: amazed at the bottle of Coca Cola and other sodas… So many bottles for so many calories. No wonder people are getting fatter.

The overall amount of processed food with packaging and so on is amazing. These pictures really exemplify your argument.

By: Kiashu

Kiashu — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:33:17 +0000

I linked to that, I think you are scanning, not reading today

I was suggesting that anyone who thinks, “oh I don’t eat much meat and processed stuff” should try doing it

By: Edouard

Edouard — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:44:30 +0000

It was done. I remember reading a Photo magazine issue where average families of several countries photographed what they ate for a week.

It was amazing. If you want I may have a look in my archives to get back those pictures…

Otherwise, thanks for your once again most interesting comment.

By: Kiashu

Kiashu — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:15:03 +0000

With food, I think the thing to remember is that different foods have different impacts. Basically, from least impact to most, it goes,

Fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, flour, etc
Baked goods, juice, milk, eggs
Prepared meals, tinned food, yoghurt and cheese, wine and beer
Dense goods, meat and fish, salt, stocks and spices, spirits, detergents

with each having about 2.5 times the impact of the previous one. If you have a look at this photoessay extract from a book about what the world eats, what you notice with the different families from around the world is that,

- when they’re poor, they eat lots of grains, legumes and fruit and vegetables
- as soon as they get some money, they buy fizzy drinks
- as they get richer, next they buy meat & fish
- as they get richer still, lots of colourful plastic packets (prepared food) appear, and more meat still

It’s pretty obvious which diets have the highest impacts. If you eat a lot of meat & fish and processed foods, you’ll have a higher impact than if you eat little of those and more fresh fruit and vegetables, and wholegrains.

A lower-impact diet tends to be better for your health, too. Not always – it’s quite possible to be an unhealthy vegetarian, just as it’s common to be an unhealthy meat/processed foods eater. But if you eat a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and legumes, with a little bit of meat, fish, and dairy, you should be alright.

Of course, just as more than half of people think they have above average intelligence, driving ability and so on, so too will most people think, “I don’t eat that much meat and processed foods.” Maybe we all need to write down what we eat in a week, then gather it all together and photograph it like those families in the link above. Most of us I think will be surprised…